Surgery Godfather
Chapter 1361 - 1032: Will It Rust?

Chapter 1361: Chapter 1032: Will It Rust?

On the second day after surgery, Brian had his drainage tube and catheter removed, and started walking around with a waist brace. He was very satisfied with the results of the surgery.

Some researchers from the laboratory would often come by to chat with Brian when they had free time. Of course, their conversations were still primarily academic, as they could easily delve into scholarly topics after just a few casual remarks. In particular, Lu Xiaolu was a rare genius whose comprehension far surpassed that of ordinary people. After many communications with a scholar at the forefront of academia like Brian, he benefited greatly and found solutions to many problems that he previously faced.

In terms of cancer research, Yang Ping’s current approach is to use M13 bacteriophages as carriers to deliver the tumor-killing K factor into the human body, subsequently selectively targeting and killing tumor cells. This is an excellent approach, but the actual operation faces many difficulties.

One challenge is embedding the K factor into M13 bacteriophages; another is making this composite entity selectively target tumor cells.

System Space can only provide time, space, and materials, and cannot offer solutions to problems. Therefore, Yang Ping must think for himself about how to solve these issues. Though Yang Ping has proposed a direction, realizing this idea now requires many specific technical implementations.

In the field of immunology, particularly tumor immunology, Brian is said to be one of the most advanced researchers in the world, and some of his specific experimental methods can serve as valuable references.

Embracing all rivers is the mark of greatness; this is the true academic attitude.

On the electronic image reading screen hangs Brian’s post-surgery MRI image. Even though the metallic implants interfere somewhat with the imaging, one can still clearly see the details of the operated area. The protruding massive nucleus pulposus of the disc has been removed, naturally relieving the pressure on the nerves. The slipped lumbar vertebra has been repositioned, and lumbar vertebrae 4 and 5 have been firmly fixed with pedicle screws. Over time, lumbar vertebrae 4 and 5 will fuse together, turning two separate bones into one and thereby achieving lasting stability in this segment. Of course, this means losing mobility in this section, but there are five segments in the lumbar spine, and losing mobility in one has a minimal impact on the overall mobility of the lumbar spine. For older individuals, the impact is almost negligible, but for young people, the effect is more significant, as they have higher demands for lumbar mobility.

"Professor, if there is no instability in the lumbar spine, and it’s just a simple lumbar disc protrusion, would you also opt for a combination surgery of disc removal, vertebral bone grafting, fusion, and internal fixation with pedicle screws?"

"Yeah, nowadays many middle-aged and young people have only lumbar disc protrusions. Is it possible to perform only the disc removal?"

Students surrounding them voiced their doubts.

"If the patients are middle-aged or younger and there is no instability in the lumbar segments, then we should not opt for this combination surgery. Instead, we should only perform the lumbar disc removal, as a large number of cases have shown that the outcome of just the disc removal is very good," Yang Ping explained to everyone.

Brian was wearing a waist brace and had a walker beside him. In fact, he could walk entirely on his own, but had the caregiver carry the walker just in case he needed to rest for a while.

Brian didn’t know how to read MRI images, but Manstein had gesticulated and explained to him several times, and he had come to understand a little. Although he couldn’t make out everything, at least two points were clear to him. One, the huge nucleus pulposus looked like a dark mass on the MRI image, which was now gone. Two, the anterior and posterior edges of the two vertebrate which were originally misaligned are now aligned, clearly indicating that they have returned to their correct positions.

Curiosity led Brian to wonder. In fact, the separation between professions is even more pronounced in English-speaking countries than in China. In the Chinese world, as long as you recognize the characters, you can understand at least a bit of the literature from other fields, with perhaps the meaning of some specialized terminology being unclear, but the basic content remains comprehensible.

However, in the English-speaking world, if one delves into an entirely new field, even someone like Brian, a great professor, could not understand a thing. This level of unfamiliarity means a total lack of comprehension, an absolute zero, just a jumble of letters.

This is just like beef, dog meat, and pork; in Chinese, even if you recognize the words, you at least know it’s meat, the meat from an animal. But in the English-speaking world, your mind goes blank about what these things are. Therefore, it’s not surprising that many high-level intellectuals in the English-speaking world don’t know how to say cuboid, or what it is when they see the word.

"I wonder, if I bend over, could these metal screws break inside my body?" Brian worries about this.

Yang Ping tells him, "There’s a possibility, but it’s extremely small."

"What happens if they break inside?" Those who engage in academics like to exhaust all possibilities.

"The duty of these metal fixatives is to temporarily stabilize, which means to share the stress through metal internal fixation before the two vertebrae have fused together. Once the vertebrae have grown together, the fixative’s duty is complete. Therefore, we need to consider two scenarios. If the screw breaks after the vertebrae have fused, it can be removed. If the vertebrae have not fused, then another surgery is required to replace the broken internal fixtures with new ones and re-stabilize," Yang Ping satisfies his curiosity.

"What if the screw breaks inside the vertebrae, as if buried inside, how do we remove it?"

It seems that Brian has started treating this question as a serious academic issue.

This is a good chance to show everyone how a Nobel Prize laureate thinks, and to let everyone know that no professor is an authority—they are all human, with their own cognitive limitations. True scientific researchers have no authorities in their eyes; they must have the spirit and ability to question.

Yang Ping points at the internal fixation on the screen with the eraser end of a pencil: "If it breaks inside the vertebrae, there’s no need to remove it; just leave it there. But if one really wants to remove it, it’s not that there is no way, just that it is a bit troublesome, and there is no need for it."

"Metal staying in the body long-term, releasing metal ions into the blood, then spreading throughout the body, won’t that affect health?"

Brian’s questions grow more curious as he delves into this line of thinking.

Yang Ping slowly tells him, "The question you’ve asked is very meaningful, and it is also the biggest potential risk for metal-on-metal artificial hip joints currently—the prospect of a large amount of metal ions entering the bloodstream bearing unknown potential risks, for instance, causing cancer. However, this risk exists in metal-on-metal artificial hip joints because the friction between metals can cause a large number of metal particles to detach, leading to numerous metal ions entering the bloodstream. But for the broken screw inside the vertebrae you’re worried about, that situation does not exist, because the metal placed in the vertebrae doesn’t experience friction and is surrounded by bone mass. We can consider it a static piece of metal; there is no issue of a large number of metal ions entering the bloodstream, and thus it can remain in the body for life."

Brian appears thoughtful, half understanding.

These are all common knowledge for a spinal surgery surgeon, but for Brian, he feels as though it’s a significant discovery.

It’s not surprising, since this knowledge is within his blind spot; no matter how he ponders, he lacks the relevant content for thinking, and without strong support, his thoughts will seem pale and weak.

"Will it rust? Or will it cause a chemical reaction with the ions in the surrounding bone tissue? If there is a chemical reaction, is it controllable?"

Brian strokes his chin and seriously raises this question.